Milwaukee Amercian Craftsman Sunburst Color Reviews

This was bought online from a dealer in Stevens Point, WI. Delivery time was short, and after shipping I paid $689. I wanted to buy it after reading up on the quality of the kits for the amount of money they wanted for them. Apparently the dealer I bought through gets them factory-direct, so I'm not positive if my price was special because of that.

First of all, the appearance of this kit is phenomenal. This is a stained and lacquered kit, not wrapped like a pearl kit. The hardware seemed really heavy duty. The connection between the hardware and the shells of the drums had a rubber spacer between them, greatly reducing overtones and almost eliminating the need for mufflers when recording. There was also the tom clamps that attached to the bass drum. These contained a unique ball-and-socket clamp. I was skeptical at first, but after using them i found them to be really awesome. You can change the position of your two front toms in seconds, and clamp them down again without worrying about them slipping. Truly revolutionary!

There were a few things that this kit didn't offer that I wish it did. First of all, it had Remo heads on it, but they were of the Taiwan make. So, just like on most drums, the stock heads needed to go. After replacing those, the drum not only sounded better, but you got the better feel from a good head. The other thing was a minor gripe with the bass pedal. It wasn't that the included pedal wasn't of good quality, but for serious playing I'd recommend an upgrade to a DW or something similar. But what can you expect for $689 shipped!

Construction seemed to be of really nice quality. This was also surprising to me, as the usual "you get what you pay for" had been lingering in my brain after ordering it. But upon opening the boxes, the shells were heavy duty and the chromed hardware was just as the manufacture had hyped it as, strong and durable. The one thing I was really impressed with, was the lacquer on the shells. This stuff was *almost* scratch proof, and held up to my new puppy's chewing habits.

For a kit at this price, you sure get allot more drum for your money then most. This virtually unknown kit by the mainstream drum society can by far hold it's own among the similar kits made by Tama & Pearl, if not have a few things up on them. And besides the issues with the drum pedal and the cheap Remo stock heads, this kit was well worth the money.